When you want to be focused and productive, what is the best thing to listen to? It’s one of those questions where you can’t get an answer that applies to everyone. So MakeUseOf talked to a few people who actively put on their headphones when they want to focus on work, to find out what’s playing, why it’s helpful, and who it’s helpful for.

The best learnings come from people who practice ideas, not preach. So let’s see what they have to say about the different philosophies on what you should listen to at work.

The dulling sound of white noise has been a popular productivity hack for those who want to cut out distractions. MakeUseOf spoke with Pranav Dixit, who oversees technology coverage at The Hindustan Times, and someone who has seen his productivity spike since he started using white noise.

Why It’s Useful: It blocks out all external distractions (like people talking to you or phone calls) and also helps with my ADD and writer’s block. It’s also useful for research, like reading long articles where you need to absorb the information. Plus, when I finally take my headphones off, it’s like waking up from a dream and coming back to the real world. It’s actually really refreshing.

Disadvantages: I cannot hear anyone calling my name and people have to usually tap me on my shoulder to get my attention — not always ideal in an office. Also can’t hear phone calls.

I didn't realize how much the open office was distracting until today when I brought my good headphones + put on white noise. Productivity!

Who It’s For: Writers, editors, researchers, coders — basically anyone who needs to focus on a particular task without being constantly distracted. If you tend to focus on the lyrics and the instruments when you play music, white noise is a better alternative.

While a lot of research suggests music or white noise or other such audio to drown out distracting sounds, some people prefer to keep it simple: Just shut out all noise altogether. Silence can be unnerving at first, but if you get used to it, it can hone your focus. MakeUseOf spoke to Harshawardhan Sabale, CEO of Ogle, who swears by this productivity technique.

Why It’s Useful: Total noise isolation lets me shut out everything else. Coding and design requires focused, intense concentration on what your eyes are processing alone, so this is a good way of shutting out distractions processed by the ears.

A new school of thought says that video game soundtracks are great for concentration, such as when you’re studying. There’s no research to back this up, but you’ll find several people online claiming its benefits. Philip Bates, a writer at MakeUseOf and Doctor Who fan site Kasterborous, thinks TV show soundtracks are even better.

The Utopia TV show soundtrack is some form of productivity magic. Getting through issues left and right today.

Workplace Setup: I’ve a PC in the lounge, with a television off to my far left, and before that, a player that does vinyl, CD, radio, and even tapes. I’ve basically got everything I need in close proximity.

Disadvantages: The mood-creating ability is a double-edged sword, so be careful. If you’re writing a very dramatic scene, you don’t want a quirky oddity playing. And associations can be strong if you know a show inside out; certain music can take you back, and you’ll be thinking about scenes and speeches when you should be concentrating on work instead.

Suits soundtrack, Poolside Mojito #3 and working on making a new TV idea less vague. Woo, productivity. http://t.co/nwGgAu7hZh

Who It’s For: Writers — fiction or non-fiction. In fact, anyone who’s trying to portray strong emotion in their work should listen to soundtracks.

Pro Tip: Use soundtracks to go from one extreme emotion to another quickly. An exhilarating song can make an article oddly more exciting. If you’re stuck with something – whatever the subject, whatever you’re doing – a fast-paced track can spur you on.

What’s Playing: Any pop music which I know well. I find silence distracting, and new music also tends to pop into my conscious awareness too often to be productive, so I try to stick with songs I’ve already heard a million times.

Thank you, Nirvana! "…Listen to music you are familiar with if you need to intensely focus for a project." http://t.co/EiyCXdKO3W

Why It’s Useful: Pop has the benefit that it’s engineered to be pleasant, and you’ve heard it so many times that it doesn’t even engage the language center of your brain any longer. Looping the same song over and over helps to emphasize this effect.

Disadvantages: I blast my speakers at the loudest volume. One of these days, my downstairs neighbor is going to poison me. Aside from that, it’s all smooth sailing.

Sorry man. You're totally right here. We're trying to fix these issues, but we have a small engineering team and the new website and apps take up a lot of our resources. I hope you'll be patient here, but I really don't see a solution coming soon.

So actually the article provide zero evidence for which music works best, none of the people even mentioned if they had tried different types of music for different tasks, or even for their main task. Which is not what the title and first few paragraphs might lead you to believe.

1) The article starts by stating that there is no "best" one-size-fits-all solution. "Best" depends on what you want to do, and learning from other people who work similar to your style is the ideal first step to take.

2) All of them have tried different types of music, but I didn't see the point in including that everywhere. There are a couple where I've kept it as is, but rest assured, all of them have tried different things and finally settled on this now.

1) OK, you probably didn't write the headline, that clearly asks what is the best sound, with the implication that the article answers that.
2) If you had said that they had all tried different types of music, I would have had no issue. As it is written, you may as well have asked people which cat picture they have on their desktop when working.

I like medieval chant, specifically Hildegard von Bingen. It is all in Latin, so I'm not focused on the words, and the tempo is rather relaxed or slow. Something about the women's voices (as opposed to men) stimulates my brain in just the right way while I'm working/writing.